Socio-Cultural Perspectives of Early Marriage between Teenagers and Parents in Rural Communities

Abstract

Early marriage (under 19 years) has a very serious impact on both the mother and the child born. Grobogan Regency is an area in Central Java province, most of which is rural. The prevalence of women marrying and getting pregnant at an early age in this area is very high, reaching 59.88% in 2018, 51.24% in 2019 and 52.81% in 2020. This figure is much higher than the figure for Central Java province, which is 37.67%. Teenagers are the main actors in early marriage, especially in rural communities.. This type of research is survey research with a cross-sectional design.The population is junior high school students aged 13-16 years in Grobogan sub-district as an area with the highest incidence of teenage marriage in Grobogan Regency, Central Java. The minimum sample size is calculated according to the Slovin formula with a 95% confidence level, obtaining a total of 185 students and their parents.Data were collected using a questionnaire. Univariate and bivariate analysis using the testMann Whitney. The results of the study stated that the perceptions of teenagers and their parents were also not much different. Significant differences were only related to the perception of matchmaking by parents as the cause of teenage marriage and the perception of the lack of reproductive health information and the impact of early marriage can encourage early marriage.